


Reluctance

by Serazimei



Series: Fear Reduction [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Case Fic, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Misunderstandings, OCs for the Case, Post-Canon, Slow Burn, Thriller?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2020-01-05 03:57:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18358136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serazimei/pseuds/Serazimei
Summary: After the scuffle in the evidence room Gavin is very much spooked by the RK800 unit. Connor doesn't like to be feared at all. And he has proven time and time again how persistant he can be.Things might not go the way Connor would have liked to. But what better way to bond than over chasing a murderer?





	1. Chapter 1

Gavin dreaded going back to work after his sick leave. He had watched the revolution on his TV clutching a bottle of beer as a way to ground himself. Now a week later he still couldn’t fully comprehend what had happened.  
The Androids had won.  
No one was going to be safe anymore. This was the end of humanity!  
Sure the fuckers were docile now, but Gavin knew what they were capable of. Connor had knocked him out cold in less than a few seconds leaving him with a bad concussion that had needed medical attention. No way were these machines not going to use their superiority. Sooner or later they would get tired of that faulty human race and plan on eliminating it.  
And now Gavin couldn’t even do anything about that anymore. Violence against Androids was very heavily frowned upon after the peaceful revolution.  
Gavin sighed, leaning heavily on the railing of his balcony. He had been staring down on the empty streets of Detroit for about an hour, gaze empty. He didn’t feel much of the cold or see the bright city lights and holograms flickering annoyingly in the darkness of the early hours. A paradise for insomniacs. His alarm went off right after he had managed to get himself out of his head and Gavin couldn’t help but groan. He was an ambitious man but fuck he really didn’t want to go to work today. Tina had messaged him that Connor had decided to stay at the DPD, helping with the steadily growing crime rate that was to be expected with violent shifts of social structures.  
He didn’t want to see Connor.  
If he was honest with himself he was pretty freaked out about that prototype. Okay, freaked out was an understatement. He was fucking terrified of the RK unit. Had been the very first time that thing had walked into the precinct, only for a whole host of different reasons.  
Despite that he dragged himself through the motions of getting to the police station and only hesitated slightly upon entering. Tina waved at him half heartedly from her desk as he beelined for the breakroom. He would need something to ground himself today. It was just his luck that he found the very object he wanted to avoid.

“The fuck are you doing here, tin can?!” Gavin exclaimed before thinking, snapping his mouth shut right after.

No, NO, why did he have to run his damn mouth? He wanted to avoid a confrontation, not cause one god damn it!

The Android in question turned with a friendly smile on his face and a mug of already steaming coffee in hand. “Good morning Detective Reed. I was preparing your coffee as an apology gift, actually. I want our working relationship to be more comfortable now that I’m a person.”

Gavin stared at the outstretched arm. The same arm that could easily smash his bones if the Android got too annoyed with him. His stomach turned at that thought. He didn’t want to take the offered gift. He wanted to yell at the thing to leave him alone, maybe try to hit it. But these actions were futile now. Not allowed. The thing had the upper hand and Gavin was smart enough not to provoke it.  
Connor tilted its head at him frowning and Gavin felt his heart speed up with growing unease.

“Your stress levels have climbed an alarming amount in the last minute, Detective. Is everything alright?”

That machine had the concerned tone down to a T. Heck maybe it was alive. It probably was. That just made everything even more messed up in Gavins opinion. Anyway he was pretty sure Connor was just mocking him at this point.

“I’m fine, dipshit. Thanks for the coffee.” Gavin mumbled.

He snatched the mug from the Droid without making eye contact and all but fled the breakroom, nearly knocking into Hank.

“Woah, Reed concussion messed with your sight or what?”

Gavin didn’t even dignify his jab with his usual middle finger. The coffee went cold over the course of the day.

“What’s wrong with him?” the Lieutenant mumbled still groggy.

Connor was still staring at the spot the Detective disappeared from as if he was trying to solve a magic puzzle. His LED whirled a steady yellow stuttering to blue from time to time. He had decided to keep it after the revolution, not fully comfortable with the idea of becoming human. He understood that he was an Android and while he wasn’t exactly proud of it, it was still a fact he couldn’t ignore. He had spent long enough denying the fact that he had emotions and his own will. That nearly led to Hanks suicide. He would not make the same mistake again and ignore what was right in front of him.  
A gentle tap on his temple pulled him out of his calculation program.

“Hey, you okay in there, son? Reed didn’t pull anything, did he?”

“No. Nothing that I’m certain of.”

Connor frowned feeling something like frustration, but he couldn’t accurately place it. Emotions, he had come to understand, were hard to decipher.

“His stress levels were rather high though and he acted…weird.” Connor added after a pause.

Hank snorted going over to the coffee machine to get himself the sweet (bitter) ambrosia of wakefulness. “You did knock him out cold right before becoming a hero. I bet the little shit is intimidated by you and doesn’t know how to deal with it.”

“You…find that funny?”

It had become something of a habit to guess and analyze the emotions others were feeling. In a way it was practice. Hank looked at it like a game.

“I sure do. Call it Schadenfreude if you will. That ass is always so high on his horse, antagonizing everyone. He deserves to be cut down a bit.” Hank clapped him on the shoulder in a fatherly, supportive way that made warmth rise within Connors artificial body. “Don’t waste your processing power on him, kid.”  
Connor hummed at him for lack of anything to say. A little uneasy he went back to his own desk to start on his paperwork. He couldn’t help but glance at Detective Reed. Despite what Hank had said Connor did worry. He didn’t want to be feared. Not after arriving in New Jericho and seeing the wide-eyed stares of the other Deviants. While he interfaced with his terminal and filled out the various forms he dedicated a bit of his processing power to surf the internet for a way to gain a sliver of Detective Reeds trust.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This started out as a simple fluffy Oneshot idea. I actually started writing it at the end of 2018 even before I uploaded my first fanfiction. But the idea quickly turned into a behemoth of a story and I needed a break from it which is how my first fic „Holiday Cheer“ came to be. Which then turned into a series... Seems like I suck at keeping stories short.


	2. Chapter 2

Gavin was going crazy! He had very little patience for social interactions with his colleagues on his best days. But Connor got his irritation up to a whole new level. Wherever Gavin went the Android wasn’t far behind. Oh, the thing was subtle alright. But Gavin hadn’t survived this long in the field, being as reckless as he was, without developing a sixth sense for being followed. (Some would call it paranoia, Gavin called it intuition)  
The stares and the following weren’t even the worst thing. It was the forced conversations it started every time Gavin and it were alone somewhere.  
Gavin hated small talk with a passion. He found it unnecessary outside of breaking the ice with witnesses. He communicated best with insults and sarcasm. But he couldn’t use these things with Connor. Not if he either wanted a repeat of last time or earn a disciplinary warning from Fowler, who had become decidedly less tolerant of his attitude due to the stress of the aftermath of the revolution.  
The thing was mocking him. It probably smelled his fear like a hound. Or at least scanned his vitals and deduced his fear out of the gathered data or some shit. Gavin huffed in irritation, contemplating if he could chance to go to the breakroom. Because at least Connor didn’t bring him coffee anymore. That phase had been weird.  
Glancing around the bullpen showed him that neither Hank nor Connor were in. (Gavin didn’t want to think about how he instantly relaxed a fraction at that realization.)  
The smell of the heavenly, if slightly disgusting, dark liquid and the quiet splashing as it hit the bottom of the cheap paper cup did the rest. His shoulder sagged, sore from the endless hours of tension and his eyes closed without his allowance.

“Wow, I was about to ask why you were even more high-strung and paranoid than usual, but I guess you just needed some time alone with the coffee maker.”

Gavin would forever deny the undignified yelp that escaped him at Tinas voice. It was a good thing he did not have the cup in his hand yet or it would have decorated the floor by now.

“What the hell Tina! Don’t just fucking sneak up on people like that, asshole.”

“Charming as ever, I see. Whelp guess I was wrong and you’re just your usual antisocial self.”

Despite what she said she didn’t just leave. Instead she wove her way around Gavin - whose tired brain tried to form some sort of creative response - and snatched his price from him. She gently took him by the elbow - wincing slightly when he flinched before catching himself - and steered him to the table.  
When they were both seated Tina just sat there staring at him expectantly. It wasn’t long before Gavin started to fidget under her unrelenting gaze.

“What do you want?” he snapped after a bit.

Tina scoffed. “To know what the hell is wrong with my best friend?”

“I wouldn’t know, go ask him.” Gavin mumbled.

“I am, Gavin.”

Gavin had the strong urge to melt into a puddle of awkwardness and sink through the cracks in the floor. He hated it when Tina got serious like that. Also, Feelings Talk. Ewww.

“It’s really nothing…”

“Bullshit, you really lying to an officer of the law?”

He chuckled “I didn’t know we were in an interrogation.”

“Don’t beat around the bush. We’re going to get our asses kicked if we idle for too long.”

“Then how about we don’t talk about it here?”

Gavin was not proud about how that sounded almost like begging.

“Okay, fine. Let’s get shitfaced on Friday. You don’t have the shift on Saturday, right?” Tina answered with a grin.

“Yeah Friday sounds good.”

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

“Connor we need to talk!”

It was a sight to behold seeing Officer Chen waltzing into the precinct at 4 am bellowing angrily for Connor. The Android in question raised from his desk in alarm and utter confusion. He wasn’t too intimidated when Tina grabbed him by the arm and led him out into the early morning air. He had met North. No one could top her scariness level.

“I do need to finish a report right now, Officer Chen. Can it not wait?” Connor asked halfheartedly letting himself be dragged off despite his protests.

Since deviating he had found that “slacking off” could be very enjoyable and while his core programming wouldn’t let him sit around idle for long a nice excuse not to work was welcome from time to time.  
Connor grew slightly more concerned when the Officer stopped walking in a dark alleyway not far from the precinct. Officer Chen didn’t wait for him to utter a word, spun around and dug her nail into his soft sweater.

“What do you want from Gavin?” she asked icily and if her finger digging into his chest didn’t send him backing against the wall her tone certainly did.

“I merely want to improve our working relationship, Officer Chen.”

“With freaking him the fuck out? Yeah sure and tomorrow Roombas are going to declare war on Canada. Wait now that you guys are considered alive, maybe that’s not that far off.”

Connors LED whirled a steady yellow by that point and he pulled his face into a frown. He was pretty sure what he was feeling at the moment was confusion only stronger.  
Lost.   
He was utterly lost.

“I can assure you that the probability of that happening is-“

“I don’t want you spewing fancy numbers in my face! I want you to leave Gavin alone. Whatever you’re doing and why ever you’re doing it, just stop it.”

Tina was panting by the time she had finished her little tirade, if only for dramatic effect. She backed off, but still stood close, crossing her arms. After a few bouts of silence Connor understood that she wanted to hear his agreement on the matter.  
That, he wasn’t willing to give without an explanation. He ran a few preconstructions trying to approach Officer Chen at the best angle. The data was incomplete though. He knew about as much about her as he knew about Detective Reed. And with her being angry he had no way of calculating the right probability for her actions. The success rate of making her explain in a way he could make sense of currently laid by 56%. Too low for Connors liking.  
And yet, silence would leave a zero percent chance of getting answers.

“I have to admit I’m…confused. All I did was trying to get to know him better. Did I do it wrong? The Internet said light talk and close observation of the person one intents to befriend, to open up new conversation topics, is common procedure.”

Officer Chen gave him an incredulous stare, but she relaxed slightly, even huffing out a breathless snort. “You’re serious?”

Connor gave her a blank stare.

“Holy shit you are. Okay. Listen. Because I know you are a persistent bastard and probably won’t stop persuading Gavin I’m going to give you a few tips now. So listen closely. Firstly stalking someone-“

“I was merely observing Detective Reed during work hours. I would hardly call that stal-“

“ **Stalking**. I say. Don’t tell me how to interpret reality. Anyway, forcing yourself into someone’s life, especially of someone as private and paranoid as Gavin, will get you nowhere.”

Connor hated how he drew into himself at the criticism. Hated how his LED probably flashed red for a second as he tried to keep his mouth shut. Officer Chen showed herself to be a seasoned cop, not softening an inch during his show of discomfort.

“I’m telling you that no amount of groveling or being nice will get him to open up to you. He doesn’t deal well with that kind of shit. What exactly do you want to change?”

“I…I just want him to stop being afraid of me.”

“Tough luck with that.”

Connor visibly deflated at that. “Is there nothing I can do?”

Officer Chen shrugged shivering in the cold. “You could try showing your vulnerable side. Don’t force anything. Lay off a bit and let stuff develop naturally, I guess.”

“How did you and Detective Reed become friends?”

To his surprise she burst out into laughter at that and grinning wildly she said “Oh no, I’m far too sober to tell that story. Sorry. Now get your well sculpted ass back to work I’m going to catch some snoozies before my shift starts.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It got really confusing referring to Connor as "it" in Gavins POV and "he" in Connors. Idk how often  
> I needed to backspace and change it again because I accidently wrote "he" instead of "it" XD  
> I loved writing Tina. She's pretty cool.
> 
> I also decided to change the summary of the Fanfic a bit. I have the feeling the description suggested  
> something very fluffy and short. And indeed the first chapters are. But as the tags say this is a case fic  
> and murder and pain are going to come into play (if not in an exaggerated fashion just the usual crime stuff).  
> I'm not sure if it'll stay like that. I might add some tags later on as well. (I'm sorry if my rating is wrong or if  
> you think tags are missing. Please tell me if that is the case.)


	3. Chapter 3

_Humans were confusing creatures_ , Connor thought as he drove to work with Hank. He had known that of course, living together with the older male. But the fact got confirmed over and over again and every time it threw him off balance. He hated being this insecure about choosing a route of action.  
The last few days he had tiptoed around the Detective afraid to sent him into a frenzy. He had tried not pushing. He did not want to show any of his weaknesses to the Android Hater. Trust went both ways, after all.  
As soon as he entered the bullpen together with his father he walked straight to Fowlers office.  
Patience was not his virtue.  
He only knocked briefly before letting himself in. The Captain send him an unimpressed stare talking to someone. Connor wondered who it could be. He busied himself with coin tricks while Fowler wrapped up the call with a frustrated sigh.

“Because this is the first time you are stepping out of line like this I’m gonna let it slide. Now, what do you want?”

“I want to be temporarily partnered with Detective Reed, Captain.”

“What?”

“What?!” Gavin felt like he just got thrown into a bad TV show. Fowler looked about as happy about the prospect as he was, while Connor stood in the corner and tried in vain to push an eager smile from its face. How someone with a quantum computer for a brain could be such shit at getting their artificial muscles under control was beyond Gavin. He guessed it was a deviant thing.

“Fowler you can’t be fucking serious! There aren’t even any cases that would need me partnering with him!” Gavin yelled smashing his palms on the pristine glassy surface of the Captains desk, leaving ugly finger prints in the process.

Fowler took a deep breath. Gavin saw how his face already had taken on a red hue. He himself was probably as red as a tomato.

“It’s an experimental partnering Reed. And it would do you good to get used to working with an Android as a partner. You might get one of your own in the near future.”

That wasn’t fair! He had been on his best fucking behavior after the revolution. Fine maybe he had treated Android witnesses and victims a little harsher, but he still did his job well. And he could work with an Android just fine! Well, maybe. As long as it wasn’t Connor.

“But why Connor?” he whined.

“Because he is the only other Detective in the precinct who’s an Android! Now get out of my office you two! You’ll be able to play nice for a month or I swear!”

Gavin didn’t let himself hear the end of that threat. He didn’t have the energy to be loud about leaving. He even left the door ajar. Only a few whispered curses left him as he slumped into his chair. Connor followed soon after sitting down right opposite of him. Perfectly straight with its hands folded in its lap. Waiting.  
When Gavin refused to acknowledge Connors presence the Prototype sent by Cyberlife just booted up its terminal.  
Gavin glanced at the hand without skin shuddering at the sight. Anger welled up inside him, shooing away the panic and dread.

“You made Fowler pair us up, didn’t you?”

Connor had the decency to look sheepish, which only led to Gavins blood boiling even more.

“Plastic prick!” he hissed, not wanting to gather any attention from his co-workers. “Why can’t you just leave me the fuck alone! Is this some sort of revenge?”

“No! No I swear I’m not meaning you any harm.” Connors LED briefly circled red as Gavins stress-levels sky rocketed at that sentence. The muttered “Yeah, sure.” From Gavin didn’t help in making Connor feel less like shit.  
Hank wasn’t exactly happy with Connors decisions either and told him so the minute Connor stepped into his home. It had been an exhausting day. Not physically. But emotionally very much so. It was worse than the beginnings with Hank. Gavin would keep his distance and scooted back whenever Connor even just twitched in his direction. There was no conversation either, the Detective vehemently refusing to acknowledge his presence. It hadn’t been necessary of course. Weirdly enough they had only a high stack of paperwork to work through.  
It made Connors biocomponents hum with nervous energy, being this close to forging a bond with the Detective yet being blocked off so violently.  
[Urgent Task: Calm Detective Reed]  
It was constantly flickering in the corner of his vision and sometimes sprung up directly in front of him. But he couldn’t calm Reed. He kept failing his mission. He hated failing his missions, it made Amanda mad- NO. No, he got rid of her. This wasn’t about her. This was about him and his own choices.

“Geez, kid calm down! Your little mood ring is spinning red.”

A warm hand squeezed his shoulder gently bringing him back out of his calculations and preconstructions. Sumo whined feeling neglected. Connor huffed out a laugh burying his fingers in the fur of the dog and smiling when Sumo laid his head in his lap, big tail thumping excitedly.

“You’re obsessing too much, Connor.” Hank said after a while.

He sat with a bottle of beer next to Connor. When the Android gave him a disapproving look the old man just raised an eyebrow and took a large sip anyway.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

Hank huffed in annoyance muttering “Bullshit”, but let it slide. They spent the rest of the night in companionable silence watching a movie Connor didn’t have the processing power to remember.  
The next days didn’t go well either and neither did the next week, stretching into two. It was maddening. The Detective only got more skittish the longer Connor stayed in his presence. Sure, he still ran his mouth from time to time, but that was more out of habit. And Connor didn’t get any new information about the man either. Scanning his desk brought up nothing. Reed kept a tidy space with nothing personal on it. His clothes didn’t give anything away either. Only that he seemed to love his leather jacket. Tina stubbornly refused to help him being mad because he wouldn’t take her advice on going slow. And Hank. Well he played the role of disappointed father perfectly. It got so on Connors nerves that he had to call Markus a few times to whine to him.  
A timer had sprung up after the third week had started and made him even more anxious. His time was running out and he hadn’t gotten anywhere with his little stunt. There were no hard cases to solve, no revolution to stop or to help. There hadn’t even been a shooting or hostage situation they had been assigned to. Nothing that Connor could use to show the Detective that he was here to protect and to aid and not to harm.  
The only thing that actually worked was, well, work itself. Connor was delighted to find that Reed was a hard worker. He always came into the precinct 5 minutes before his shift started and he never complained much about the paperwork. In the time they had worked together Connor had only seen him slack off once or twice. On crime scenes they worked efficiently. Reed let him analyze shit with his mouth with only the slightest of grimaces and the faintest of “Ewws”. Reed even let him interrogate the Android suspects and victims without a fuss.  
It still wasn’t what Connor had wanted. They still merely tiptoed around each other and it was tiring, even more so than blatant yelling and antagonizing would have been.  
The dubious miracle happened at the beginning of the last week. And when it happened Connor didn’t know if he liked the development at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posted this in a rush cause easter, so I hope there aren't too many errors in there ><
> 
> Yay story will start to happen the next chapter onwards XD


	4. Chapter 4

The call came in the late evening. It was a shooting reported in one of the wealthier parts of the town, the ones with the really high buildings. Buildings like the one Connors first mission had taken place in. He wasn’t sure if he should feel happy or scared. But the shots had been reported to come from the ground floor so maybe he wouldn’t need to worry.  
Gavin drove to their destination only speeding a little. Having the Android sitting so close to him in a vehicle he couldn’t escape from while it moved freaked him out more than he was comfortable with. Outwardly he played it cool, his gaze firmly on the road and his focus mostly on not gripping his steering wheel too tightly. He knew logically that Connor could look straight through him but was too stubborn to acknowledge that fact.  
He couldn’t help but let out an impressed whistle at the tower of glass and steel they came to stand in front of. The thing probably had about 70 stories. Gavin couldn’t make out the top even if he craned his neck. And yet it didn’t seem to be a joy to live here. This wasn’t the only giant. Like a strange caricature of a forest the high buildings stood side by side. They were so close that you maybe could touch another person’s fingertips if you leaned out far enough out of the windows. (Gavin, being the reckless shit he was, would have been that person to try if he had a partner who would have been big enough and human.)  
Connor had been unusually quiet beside him and stayed like that while Gavin let himself be briefed in. There had been several noise complains during the last two hours coming from the residents of this block. And then, about an hour ago shots were heard from the ground floor. Some residents had seemingly evacuated of their own volition scared of a possible hostage situation. The rest had been advised to stay in their respective apartments until the police gave clearance. Entering the lobby Gavin immediately understood the forced quarantine. Two bodies lay in the lobby not far from the entrance. They had obviously tried to crawl to freedom despite their wounds. Blue and red mixed into a sea of violet which started to go more and more brown as the Thirium evaporated. Behind the reception lay another victim. Shot in the head multiple times.  
Gavin strolled around the Foyer while the Android did his weird licking stuff thing and looked for clues as to where the culprit had run off to. The floor was polished until Gavin could see his reflection in the black and blue checkered pattern. It was good most of the blood was already dried or this whole thing would have become a slippery situation. Two dragging foot pairs went from the elevator to the bodies laying prone at the entrance, but there were no third foot prints.  
Well that was weird. Gavin slipped on a pair of gloves before pressing the button on the elevator. He nearly vomited when the thing dinged open.

“Connor! Get your ass over here!”

The Android strutted over to him like the obedient puppy he – it was. If it were at all possible for Androids to loose color than Connor would have shown him in that moment. As it was its widening eyes and short gasp were enough of an indicator that the robocop was just as horrified as Gavin. Which was no wonder, the cabin looked like it came straight out of someones nightmare.

“He most have shot the victims-“

“Clara Stark and Thomas.” Connor clarified.

Gavin made an impatient noise. “Yeah, those. Seems like he shot them here first. That doesn’t seem to match with the noise complains though. The argument must have started higher up for it to escalate in the elevator. Hey Person! Restrict access to the elevator, will you?” Gavin yelled before stomping off to the stairs.

“Detective, where are you going?”

“Up, the suspect could still be around. Is probably hiding on the roof. They usually do that when its their first. Too scared to run, so they hide.”

“Like the deviant in the attic.” Connor murmured sadly.

Gavin didn’t dare dignify that with a response. He hated it when Connor sounded human, which happened more and more every day as the thing learned to navigate its emotions better. Or maybe it just learned how to fit in better with humans.

“Hey, brief me in. What did your daydreaming technique bring?”

“Do you mean my preconstruction program? From the clues we gathered the argument must have broken out on the 47th floor – Claras flat. The three went out, maybe the victims tried to leave the fight before it escalated. They ended up in the elevator and along the ride the suspect shot Thomas the Android point blank in the stomach. There was a struggle and two more shots were fired. One hit Claras right lung the other hit Thomas in the shoulder. When the elevator hit the ground floor the two started to crawl out and the suspect panicked. He shot the receptionist first, who was about to call the police.”

“By leaning out the elevator doors?” Gavin asked, already panting. They were thirty floors up now and damn Gavin already never wanted to see stairs in his life again.

“Exactly. Even when panicked the suspect must have been more afraid to leave a trail.”

“Hm. So what next? He shoots the victims trying to reach the entrance without leaving the elevator. And then rode back up again?”

Gavin picked up his pace at that. His gut just told him that he was right in his assumption that the perp was still hiding out on top of the roof. This just screamed sloppy first-time murder.

“Wouldn’t it be better if we checked the flat first?” Connor asked, only a step behind him.

Gavin wondered if he had just imagined its desperate tone to compensate for the lack of panting his forced partner made.

“You have the super computer for a brain. It’ll probably tell you there is about zero chance…, hah phck”

Gavin had to stop on the 51st floor to catch his breath. Sure he was fit, but damn. Why so many fucking stairs?

“Do you need a break, detective?”

“Fuck off! Why don’t you run ahead, huh?”

“…”

Gavin glanced up at the fidgeting Android and flinched right back when he noticed how close they were. He instantly straightened up and made to climb the last few floors.

“Cm’ on, dipshit.”

The wind was howling up a storm when they finally reached the top. Gavin felt like he might faint just from the climb up. It was freezing cold up there. The Detroit winter had made sure to freeze over the roof and had only left a few patches of snow for a bit of grip.

“You got anything?” Gavin asked confident that even with the racket the wind made Connor would hear him.

The Android glanced around seemingly frozen in place, its eyes slightly glazed over. “There are footsteps leading to the right.” Came the whispered response.

Gavin nodded, drawing his weapon and slowly inching forward to where Connor pointed. He tensed up when the Android pulled out its own weapon. He had the urge to stand back and let Connor lead if only to not have it at his back like that. He refrained though. This was important. He couldn’t let his fear make his work performance suffer.  
Behind one of the blocky structures of the roof he could faintly see a tuff of brown hair stick out. He steadily aimed there while trying not to slip on the ice below him.

“DPD! You are a suspect in the murder of Clara Stark and Thomas the Android! Come out with your hands up! You have the right to remain silent and all that.”

It was weird that Connor didn’t pipe up to finish at that. He usually did. It was one of the few things Gavin still did to get a slight rise out of him, if only because saying the phrase like that had become a bit like a bad habit over the years.

“Go away! I didn’t do anything!” came a muffled cry.

Gavin scoffed. “Great then you can come out and follow us without a fuss.”

“No! You don’t understand. This-“ there was a hiccup “this wasn’t supposed to happen! He had- it wasn’t me who had-“ the guy sounded like he was about to hyperventilate.

“Connor, chance of success?” Gavin whispered.

When no response came Gavin hissed a bit more aggressively. “Connor!”

“Sorry. 38%.”

“Amazing.”

It was at that moment that the guy decided to be a dick and run. Gavin cursed firing off a warning shot, but it only made the suspect run faster. Gavin fired a shot at his tight, but his foot slipped and Connor had to steady him.

“Shit! What are you doing? Go after him!”

Gavin screamed as he started running himself. The suspect was charging at the edge of the building and with one steady, impressive leap sailed right over the gaping chasm between the buildings and onto the next roof.  
Gavin cursed making to jump himself, but a hand grabbed his elbow and pulled him back sharply.

“What the fuck! Let go of me you stupid pile of plastic! What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” he screeched.

“There was a 56% chance you would plummet to your death.” There was slight static in Connors voice.

“So you go after him!”

Gavin tried to salvage the situation and aimed again, but the suspect had already vanished. He growled in frustration stomping his foot. Leftover adrenalin and pure fury at letting the murderer escape nullified his fear of Connor for a brief moment.

“What is your fucking problem?! Are you trying to sabotage me or something? Hey, tin can? Answer me!”

Connor was not responding at all. He stared down the place between the two buildings with wide eyes and wouldn’t budge even when Gavin tried to pull him away with all his strength. His- its, oh whatever- his LED was circling a concerning red.  
Gavin understood – in the deepest corner of his brain – what Connor was experiencing. He didn't want it to be true though. Machines suddenly having emotions and wants was one thing, but them experiencing trauma as well? That just didn't fit into his worldview. Androids were supposed to be these perfect things masking their perfection with random mistakes to make humans feel better about themselves.  
The light kept spinning red and Connor just wouldn't move even after several minutes. The longer Gavin stood in the cold the less sure he was about his assumptions and the more worried and anxious he became. They were wasting time and his partner was freaking out.  
His perfect, machine, Android partner was freaking the fuck out.  
What the hell had his life come to?

“Hey. Hey tin can, come on stop looking down.”

It was the softest he had spoken to any Android ever. He slowly stepped in front of Connor so he would lose his view. It helped. Connors eyes lost that glazed over look. He blinked a couple of times. His LED was still red though. And he had started shaking, if only mildly. Gavin doubted it was from the cold.

“Connor? You there?”

“Yes Detective...” came the choked reply.

“Good. Let's go and report to the others shall we?”

“Okay...”

As soon as they went inside Connors nightlight went to yellow and Gavin inwardly sighed. At least he had stopped a full-fledged panic attack it seemed. His partner was still too stressed, he knew. Connor was holding himself stiffer than usual and walked like when he had first appeared in the precinct. As if he had reverted back to a glorified toaster again.  
Gavin suddenly decided that he really hated this tense silence.

“Soooo, want to tell me what the fuck happened out there?” it came out gruffier than he intended. Good.

“There was merely a high chance of your death. I decided to intervene.”

“We both know that is not what I'm talking about.”

A flash of red settling back into yellow. “I can’t say that I do, Detective.”

“Fine, don’t talk then, asshole.”

Connors thoughts were…scattered. It wasn’t the perfect term for what he was experiencing, but it was the most accurate he could come up with. He felt uncomfortable, his chassis felt too tight and there were several error riddled warnings in his vision. He hated to admit that Reeds attempts to calm him had worked. Had he not been preoccupied with feeling scared and insecure he might have even felt a small sense of accomplishment at that.  
Fowler hadn’t been happy that the suspect had managed to flee. The guy wasn’t found again even after a thorough sweep of the parameter. The following search of the flat of the victim hadn’t brought much either. It looked like Clara had just moved in. There were no signs of a struggle in there as well.  
Now back at his desk on ground level Connor tried to occupy his thoughts with these titbits of information. It didn’t do any good. There was still the ghost of howling wind and a deep fall. He hated heights.  
He hated even more that now Reed knew he hated heights.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay plot~  
> This was honestly the point were the story turned complicated. Ideas for the case just kept popping up. I really wanted to add Connors fear of heights and I enjoyed writing this scene so much, though.
> 
> There will be a few OCs from now on, because I needed people for the case. None will steal the spotlight of our dear protagonists. I promise.
> 
> Also, this is the first time I'm writing a bigger crime mystery,  
> so if you find any logical errors or plotholes feel free to tell me. :)
> 
> Update: I upped the rating and choose to add a warning for violence, just to be sure.


	5. Chapter 5

Until the end of the case.  
Gavin groaned at the prospect slumping down in his chair after his briefing with Fowler. On the opposite side of him Connor looked just as crestfallen. Well, really more like a kicked puppy. Since the incident on the roof the Android had become oddly quiet and Anderson bordering on overprotective in turn. Gavin had no clue what was going on. He refrained from snooping though. It seemed to be a delicate subject for the Android and he didn’t want to be on the receiving end of Connors wrath.  
But there wasn’t much else he could do. Connor, in whatever fit he had gotten that day, had failed to recognize the suspects face. The grievance counselors hadn’t given them the go ahead yet to ask the immediate family of the woman, either. Which meant they had to wait until permission was given to see the security footage of the building. Bloody bureaucracy.  
He was settling in, resigned to do his leftover paperwork (why was there always paperwork?) and maybe read up on some interesting cases that weren’t his business. A glint and bright ping caught his attention then. Connor was interfacing with the terminal with one hand, but the other played with his coin snipping it into the air and catching it again with ease. After a while Gavin started to understand why Anderson always complained so loudly about that particular hobby.

“For the love of- could you stop playing with that thing?”

Connor visibly flinched at his brash tone which in turn made Gavin scoot back a little, wary.

“My apologies Detective. I didn’t notice I was doing that.”

“Seriously? You do these sick coin tricks without thinking about it? Fucking Android…”

Connor perked up at that and no Gavin was not relieved to see a small smile forming on that handsome face.

“Most of my coin tricks have been preprogrammed into my system, so I don’t have to waste much processing power on them.”

“Why the fuck did Cyberlife do that?” Gavin mumbled abandoning the mission to get done with his paperwork. Curiosity was an awfully distractive thing.

Connor shrugged, both hands now playing with the coin, flipping it from hand to hand in a way that seemed to defy gravity.

“It was a feature for testing and recalibration. Now I just do it out of habit, I believe. Humans have a lot of perks that are ingrained in their personalities, no? I guess that is one of mine.”

“Uhu. Well don’t overdo it with the perks weirdo.” Gavin said avoiding to voice his thoughts. But you are not human. Better not say something that would get Hank on his case.

They got the go ahead to view the security footage after merely an hour more of waiting around. Gavin nearly jumped at the chance to move again. Connor followed only a little less enthusiastically.  
It didn’t take long for Connor to find the right timestamps for them. About 7 pm their culprit entered the building and took the elevator to the 47th floor. There weren’t any cameras there, unfortunately, so Connor could only guess what had went on after the man had gotten to his destination. It bugged the Android to no end that the security footage just wouldn’t give him a good view of the suspects face. It was always either a weird angle from behind or the hood of his sweatshirt would hide his face.  
Only when the victims stumbled out in a blind panic did Connor get a good look.

“An Android?” Gavin sounded about done with his life.

Connor was just as confused. Everything else panned out exactly as he had preconstructed.

“Guess we’ll have to interrogate the witnesses now.” Gavin said with a groan, stretching his back with a pop.

“I believe we must.” Connor answered, LED flashing red briefly at the thought of having to enter that building again.  
The woman who called the police was dressed to the nines and somehow stayed absolutely cat hair free despite the six felines strolling around the place. Connor was awed at the sight not having encountered a docile cat until now. He already loved them even if not as dearly as he did Sumo.  
The woman – Hellen Adelair, his database told him – was a slim, tall woman with a brash but friendly attitude. She immediately ushered them in telling them to warm up and offered them hot coffee or tea. When she noticed that Connor was an Android she smiled and asked him if he wanted to drink flavored Thirium instead. Not having had the strawberry flavor she offered yet he was only too happy to agree.  
Once they settled on the couch with Hellen on the loveseat, Gavin tentatively began the questioning. He was holding his cup of coffee in one hand while trying to pet the cats begging for his attention with the other. Connor had never seen him this relaxed.

“So Mrs. Adelair –“

“You can call me Hellen.”

“Hellen.” Gavin paused to lift his cup away from an insistent cat nose with a chuckle. “Could you describe the night of the murder for us? What did you hear or maybe see. Anything could be useful.”

The lady shifted in her seat staying quiet for a minute. Connor scanned her vitals to see if she was just thinking or maybe hiding something. Her heartrate was normal and she was quite relaxed herself.

“I didn’t know Clara that well. She sometimes knocked on my door to ask if she could borrow milk or sugar. There have been commotions from time to time since she moved in. Her brother would sometimes visit and they would get into a fight. It would get awfully loud and then he would stalk off. Then last night he came up again and another man was with Clara - I think because there were more than two voices this time. I heard accusations being yelled… and that’s when I’ve had enough and called the police. I should have done that way earlier. Maybe the two would still be alive now…”

“Please do not burden yourself with these thoughts Hellen.” Connor interrupted her gently. “You could not have predicted something like that happening. People fight all the time and you didn’t know them well.”

Hellen gave him a wry smile. “I just didn’t have all the variables fit for the equation.” She said, not unkindly.

Gavin cleared his throat next to him saving Connor from having to come up with a reply to that. “You said he was her brother? How do you know that?”

“Well she called him that. And he called her little sister.”

Gavin looked over to Connor, who furrowed his brow and shook his head. No, he didn’t read of any sibling either. Gavin sighed. Two cats had started to snore happily on his lap and Connor found that to be quite surreal, but also pretty cute. He mentally took a snapshot and stored it into his memory banks under a new folder called “Soft Gavin”. He kept a lot of personal folders from people he interacted with on a daily basis. He hoped this one wouldn’t stay as empty as it currently was.  
It was good that he had been quick, because the cats soon were jostled awake by Gavin standing up.

“Well, that’s all for now. Thank you a lot for your time. If you remember something else that seems important, please contact us.”

“Of course. Have a safe trip home. There seems to be a storm coming.”

“Thank you for the Thirium.” Connor called over his shoulder as they stalked out the building. When they came to a stand outside he squinted up at the sky LED yellow.

“Detective Reed? What did she mean by a storm seems to be coming? There are only white clouds in the sky and the weather forecasts have only predicted a 10% chance of snow.”

Gavin snorted next to him. “It’s because of the cats. There’s this saying that if a cat sleeps on its head the weather is going to be bad.”  
“You humans have peculiar ways to interprete the world.” Connor concluded, unable to find the connection between a cats sleeping manners and local weather patterns.

Only the cats had seemed to be right. It did start to snow hard again the next day as they made their way to the parents of Clara. They lived at the northern edge of the town which meant a long drive through clogged streets. Gavin had switched to autopilot so that he could lean back and go over the evidence again. It was mostly a way to shut out Connor, who was anxiously playing with his coin.   
Not that there was much left to review.  
There really was only one puzzle piece missing until they could identify the murderer. And from then on it would be more of a hunt. That is if the fucker didn't already hightail it out of Detroit. Shit, if Connor hadn't freaked out on that roof they would have been done by now! Done with the case and not forced to work together anymore. Gavin hated this. He hated the thick atmosphere in the car, hated the adrenalin constantly pumping through his veins because of the proximity to the murder bot. Gavin was tired of being wary all the time. And Connor seemed to be getting tired of Gavin. A fact that only made Gavin fear him more.

“Detective Reed, if you breath any faster you are going to hyperventilate.” Connor said quietly. He sounded exhausted.

Gavin drew in a big breath and let it out slowly. “I hate long car drives.” he admitted.

“You could catch up on some sleep. I'll inform you when we get there.”

“I'm sitting in front of the wheel, dipshit.” No way was he going to make himself vulnerable.

“We can switch position if you'd like. My reaction time - should something happen - is much better anyway.” Connor said and immediately grimaced. “Sorry that came out wrong.”

Well too late. “I'm not gonna let you at the wheel.” Gavin ground out.

“Okay. Fine.”

It took them two hours and thirty-two minutes in total to reach their destination. To both it had felt like a small eternity. Gavin stumbled out of the car and straight to the house, Connor hot on his heels.  
It was a small one, build for maybe a family of three. It was painted a lovely blue and the garden seemed to be well kept. Bit's of lush green grass poked out from under the snow, trimmed to a perfect length. It even had a small, frozen over, pond with goldfish.  
The door opened to an elderly man with a sunken face and puffy grey eyes. He tried a smile, but the corners of his mouth only twitched a bit. Gavins own was strained.

“Hello, we are from the DPD. Are the parents of Clara Stark home?” Gavin rasped.

“They are waiting in the living room. Come right in.”

The man shuffled inside guiding them to a couple sitting anxiously on a mint green couch. The following conversation cleared a lot of things up. The Android they were looking for was named Harald - an AP400 model. They had taken him in during the revolution saving him from the deviant camps in the process. Harald had become somewhat of a big brother to Clara, but hadn't been very pleased when she had started dating Thomas after the revolution.  
Connor and Gavin were shown several photos and Connors face recognition software did the rest. When they were done and on their way back they knew everything they needed to about their suspect.

“What do you think Haralds motive was, Detective?” Connor asked while looking out the window.

“Obviously jealousy, duh.”

And that was that for the conversation. Gavin didn't need to put more detail in his very educated guess and Connor couldn't help but agree. Which meant silence for the rest of the ride, which meant highened stress-levels on both sides.  
Their musings were interrupted by a call alerting them of a perp close by found dealing drugs. It was a nice distraction for both of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm probably not going to be able to post anything tomorrow so here's the chapter a day early ><  
> Hooray?


	6. Chapter 6

Days went by without a good lead on that specific case. It didn't happen often, but Harald was seen on security footage all over town, staring at the camera for a few seconds to a minute, before slinking out of sight again. It was as if he was playing with them. Mocking them. It drove them absolutely crazy. Especially because the police just wasn't able to get a hold of him. His appearances seemed to be random.  
Other, less gruesome and more boring cases took over after a while. Connor and Gavin had to go to a lot of stake-outs, which was probably the most mind numbing task of the whole job. Then there were petty robberies and drunken fistfights. One time an old lady had even called the police because a racoon was stuck in the attic. That had been a fun one.  
All in all Connor worried that the case might go cold if Harald might not be found soon. Gavin was just as itchy about that. Despite their mutual dislike they often found themselves stuck at the precinct at night together. They were trying to understand what kind of person Harald was, what his next actions might be.

Hank sometimes stayed with them and it was those times were Gavin relaxed.  
He didn't like Hank, but he trusted him in a way. The lieutenant had looked out for him when he had still been a rookie, before the whole fiasco with Cole. Gavin knew in his heart the old bastard wouldn't let harm come to any of his co-workers now that he was back on track.

“You guys are running in circles. Give it a damn rest for now. People are looking for him. There is nothing you can do but wait.” Hank said, not for the first time. He had brought a beer bottle with him, leaning on the desk Gavin and Connor had spread the evidence on.

Both Gavin and Connor gave him annoyed looks.

“Aimless searching won't do much.” Gavin snapped.

“I agree with Detective Reed, Hank. If we could only narrow the search area probability of success would be much higher.”

“Holy shit. You two actually agreeing for once? The end times must be close. Anyway you can't keep pulling all-nighters like that. I for one won't. Connor you coming home with me?”

“I'll just be a little longer.” Connor assured, only briefly looking up to smile at Hank.

Hank sighed shaking his head as he went. Gavin scowled after him, mostly angry to be left alone with the Android.

“Great. Now where were we?” he grumbled.

They went over their notes for what felt like the hundredth time again. They cross referenced them with other deviant cases. That's when Gavin noticed something.

“You Androids seem to like going into hiding in industrial complexes and abandoned homes.”

Connor frowned. “How did you get to that conclusion?”

“Look at all the cases, dipshit. Kara went to hide in an abandoned building. That Ralf guy was the same. And Old Jericho was a safe haven for Androids and a huge industrial complex. Not to forget the dozen other cases, where Androids hid in empty houses close to their original location.”

Connor hummed, fingers tracing the map they had at one point laid on the desk. “That's still far fetched. Humans do quite the same. It's just the most logical thing to do. Use warehouses and such to hide and hide close to the murder area when you can't leave.”

“Yeah but humans mostly don't hide near their old homes. Granted Old Jericho wasn't close to anywhere, but it was still in Detroit. They could have hightailed it out of the city somehow. Heck, I'm sure some Androids did. But most stayed.”

“So you say Harald could be the same?”

“Well, he did hide on the roof instead of running.” Gavin shrugged. His brain already felt like mush at this point. Damn, he needed coffein quick.

Connors LED circled yellow for a second, face scrunching up in discomfort. Gavin watched him for a second before deeming it safe to leave him for a bit. When he came back from the break room Connor had drawn on their map. Curiously Gavin inspected the red circles.

“You think that's where he could hide?” he asked after taking a sip from his coffee.

“Yes.” Connor pointed to an area near the river. “This might be the most likely location. Based on the security footage from the city cameras and the routes he usually took when Clara was still alright.” He circled another area with his index finger. “This one would come next. It's close to Claras home.”

“Hey, maybe there is a chance he even came back to go into Claras apartment? I mean the guy is sentimental as shit, if we can believe the stuff Claras parents said.” Gavin said thoughtfully.

“That could be a possibility as well. But it's already been awhile. Why wait until now to go?”

“He lets the case cool off first. The first week police was swarming the building, but now it's mostly unprotected again. Residents will be much less likely to be on alert at this point, too.”

“Hm. That is a good point, Detective. But he doesn't seem to want to let the case cool off. The way he appears from time to time feels deliberate, provocative.”

“True. It's what's giving me headaches just thinking about it. Like, it doesn't match up with his profile at all. But maybe he went back to the flat anyway. Even if just to leave a reminder for us, or a hint. This isn't a shitty thriller I know, but hey, we're grasping straws here.”

Connor stared at the map, LED whirling yellow in thought. “It's a possibility, at least. Would you want to check out some of the places right now?”

Gavin looked into his half-empty coffee cup as if it could somehow tell him the answer. Truth was that he was tired. And not the it's-my-bed-time-tired, either. More like the I-haven't-slept-properly-in-a-week-and-am-close-to-hallucinating kind of tired. But most of all he wanted Harald to finally be caught. And if Connor didn't complain about his health than he was probably fine. He downed the rest of the coffee, hoping it would wake him up a little.

“Let's go, dipshit.”

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

They went to Claras apartment first. Connor prayed to an Ra9 he didn't believe in that Harald wouldn't be there. He didn't want to experience the roof again. When they entered the flat he pointedly ignored the windows. His pre- construction program went wild whenever he as much as glanced at them.  
Thankfully nothing was out of place and there were no new signs of entry. The new clerk at the reception also said that no one of Haralds stature had come in since the murder.

It was 5 am when they came to a stop at an abandoned industrial complex close to the river. They had patroled the area first, looking for buildings that might match Haralds taste. This one looked to be perfect. It wasn't too big and had a weird homey feel to it. The property was closed off with a thick red brick wall and a heavy iron gate.  
It was still easy to access, the gate hanging open, nearly falling off its hinges. The bad Detroit weather had done a number on the iron. The parking lot was mostly empty. Only some stray cars were parked here and there. These didn't look like they were going to drive anymore. The building itself towered over them, casting deep shadows into the corners. Here alone were lots of hiding places, but Connor doubted Harald would be outside. Androids might not feel the cold, but their bio components could still be damaged by it.  
They glanced around only briefly before entering the building through a broken window. Glass cracked as Gavin jumped down from the window sill and into the hallway. Connor glared at him as the sound echoed in the emptyness. Gavin glared back at him but the Android could make out a short spike in his heartbeat.  
A huge hall came into view, lined with long assembly lines and heavy machines that looked like they came right out of the 1920s. Connor would probably have been able to look up the specific facts had he not been distracted by the nonexistant wall a view long meters opposite them. Bits of the iron skelett peaked through the broken bricks. A quick scan told Connor that they had nothing to worry for now. While brittle the rest of the structure was not yet bound to collapse.

Gavin let out a low, nearly silent whistle. “So that's why the building looked so small. Still think he might be here?”

There was a clunk coming from somewhere behind them, followed by hurried footsteps. “I think that answers your question, Detective.”

Connor sped towards the source of the sound not looking if his partner was following. There was another crash and a fearful yelp.  
Gavin cursed only two steps behind him, already panting heavily. They ran through the hallway into the entrance hall and from there to the winded staircase. Down, it came from the basement. Very good. Harald had nowhere to run there.  
Connor jumped the last few stairs, processors whirring with something resembling adrenalin. There, right around the corner where two huge double doors. He paused in front of them letting Gavin catch up. They both took out their guns, counting to three and then burst in.

“Nobody move!” Gavin shouted only for nobody to be there. “God damn it.”

Connor scanned the room, suddenly anxious. A wave of cold air had triggered his sensors when they had stormed in and he could see Gavin begin to shiver as they inched further into the room. It was nearly dark in here with only a few flickering lights providing something for their eyes to work with.

“Connor? This didn't get turned into a slaughter house, right?” Gavin whispered, gaze darting around.

A quick google search. “No. Not that anyone knows of. At least I can assure you that this is only cow meat.”

Not like that made it any less creepy. Huge junks of frozen meat hung from the low ceiling, but not in neat little racks like Connor knew was proper. These just hung randomly like they were some sort of grotesk decoration.  
Suddenly the door behind them fell shut, followed by a squeaked “I'm so sorry!”

“Fuck! Shit seriously?!” Gavin stomped his foot, fuming.

Connor hurried back to the door where his fears were proven right. “He locked us in.”

“What the fuck is this?! Some kind of shitty TV Show? God damn it you fucking Androids.” Gavin fumed, kicking one of the lower hanging bundles of cow. It swung right back at him of course, catching him off guard and smacking him right in the face.

Connor couldn't help but smile in amusement as Gavin fell flat on his ass. “Are you alright, Detective?”

“Don't sound so fucking smug.” Gavin hissed, holding his head. He picked himself off the tiled floor and took out his flashlight. “Get your ass moving and look for a way out instead.”

“I've already contacted backup. They will be there in about twenty minutes.” Connor assured.

“Well with this shitty kind of cold I'm not gonna survive that long.” Gavin said, waving his light around the room.

Connor frowned watching his temporary partner walk off deeper into the room. His visual read -5.8 Fahrenheit, (-21 degrees Celsius) and Gavin only wore his usual outfit, which was not at all suitable for the weather outside let alone for being stuck in a freezer. And while his partner might not freeze to death, frostbite and hypothermia were a real problem.  
He turned back to the door trying to find some sort of weakspot. But this one was new unlike the rest of the building above them. It was made out of stainless steel and Connor estimated its thickness to be about 3,9 inches (10 centimeters). No way would he be able to get through that.

“Shit! Connor come here!”

The yell made Connor flinch and sprint towards the source of the sound. Gavin had sounded horrified. That could not be a good sign. When he skidded to a stop next to him he understood why.

“Oh, Ra9...”

Gavin was holding the flashlight to a huge metal capsule with a nice viewing glass in the centre. In it hung an Android - a female BL100 - a small robotic arm connecting her to the back of her cell.

“She's still alive...” Connor whispered, LED flashing red.

“Shit...Maybe we underestimated Harald?” Gavin sounded unsure, pointing the flashlight down so the Android wouldn't be in the spotlight anymore. “Oh, damn it. Connor, that's not the only one.”

And it truly wasn't. The far right wall where they stood was lined with the capsules. Connor counted 15 only on this wall. And he had a sneaking suspicion the opposite one looked the same. Connor walked down the row with gritted teeth, scanning the faces and matched them with the DPD database. None of them had been declared missing. How was that possible?

“So the meat w-w-was on-l-l-y a d-d-d-estraction.” Gavin tried to get out.

It made Connor focus on his human partner again. The mans lips had turned blue and his teeth were chattering so loud Connor worried Gavin might accidently destroy one or two. His body temperature had gone dangerously low.  
Despite that Gavin still took several steps back when Connor approached him.

“W-what do y-y-ou w-”

“You are on the best way to get hypothermia right now, Detective. Let me help you warm up.”

Connor didn't know if the rosy blush adorning Gavins cheeks was from the cold or from embarassment. It did not matter either way. Connor didn't let the Detective go far, grabbing his arms and enveloping him in a rather aggressive hug. Gavin squirmed and cursed against him, trying to twist away, kick him off. But Connor held on, feeling only slightly guilty for the panic he was inducing. At least the Detective was producing heat while he was moving. Although it did get annoying after a while.

“There are at least 10 more minutes left to wait. Would you please stop with your childish antics.” 

“Fuck you!” Gavin squeaked, having snaked his hands onto Connors chest, pushing to get out of the embrace.

“Detective. Gavin! This is ridiculous. I'm only trying to help.” Connor growled holding on tighter.

“Well you are not! Get off me!”

Connor rested his chin on Gavins head instead to prevent the detective from headbutting him. “Your temperature has already gone up by two degrees again and you stopped chattering.” Connor blinked in confusion when he felt teeth on his throat. “Did you just bite me?”

“Oww.”

The struggling ceased a bit. Connor still stayed tense not sure if he was being lured into a false sense of security. “That's what you get for trying to bite an Android.” Connor gently chastised.

[Warning: Thirium Pump malfunctioning]

A shudder wracked his body his pump lurching uncomfortably. Several other warnings popped up right after. Damn maybe _he_ would not survive the next 7 minutes.  
Gavin used his sudden bout of weakness to wrench himself free, but stopped short when he took in Connor.

“Wait you're cold too? I thought Androids don't feel cold.”

“We don't.” Connor agreed, shaking hands resting on where is Thirium Pump was. “Long exposure to low temperatures does damage our bio components though.”

It was mostly because Connor had tried to up the heat in his core to balance out Gavins iceblock of a body that his pump was now deprived of warmth. He had used too much energy too fast. Not that he would tell Gavin that.

“So you are as much trying to warm yourself up as me.” Gavin concluded with a thoughtful look on his face.

“Sharing warmth would be beneficial for both of our continued survival, yes.”

Gavin sighed, rubbing his arms against the cold. “Fine. But don't you dare tell anyone about this afterwards.”

Gavin scooted forward again, breathing on his hands before worming them under Connors shirt and over his Thirium Pump. Connor flinched, hands hovering over Gavins shoulders unsure if he should push him away.

“What are you doing?” he asked with only a bit of panic in his voice.

“What's it look like, dipshit? That's the most important part of you right? I bet it's the most sensitive too. I'm keeping it warm.”

“Oh.” Connor gently wound his arms around the detectives waist again, imitating Gavins move and pushing his hands under the thin shirt. Gavin trembled at the contact, but didn't make a sound. It really did help to keep the heat, the layers of clothing making sure it could not escape.  
They stood like that in tense silence, both feeling far too vulnerable. They breathed twin sighs of relief when they heard voices shout out their names.  
They were shooed off to an ambulance straight away and given thermal blankets. Connor found that to be a little much. Once out of the freezer all he would have needed to do was to sit in the car for a while to get his temperature back in order. Despite his thoughts Gavin was the one complaining, spitting curses and making scathing remarks at the doctor trying to get his vitals. The poor guy looked to be on the verge of crying. But maybe that was the sleep deprivation. It was pretty late now after all. Or really early in the morning, however you wanted to put it.  
A hand ruffled his hair making him look up. Hank had been the one to find them and had given them both a piece of his mind as soon as he saw their shaking forms. He was calmer now, but still frowning. Connor had conflicted feelings about that. It was nice in a way to know he was cared about, but he also felt guilty for making Hank worry.

[Warning: Energy Levels low. Initiate Stasis.]

Connor blinked the message away with a frustrated huff. His system was lagging quite a bit and his Thirium Pump still fell out of rhythm from time to time.

“What do you want, Reed?” Hank growled beside him. Huh, when did Gavin stomp over.

“I wanted to speak to my partner, Anderson. Fuck off.”

“Could we not do that now? I'm too tired for this.” Connor interrupted them with a sigh. “How can I help you, Detective.”

Gavin glared at Hank for a second before zeroing in on Connor. “I'd say we call it a day for now.” “No shit-” Hank grumbled. “The police is sweeping the building and surrounding area. We'll know if something comes up.”

“Okay.”

Connor watched Gavin stagger off to his car hoping the grumpy human would get home safely. He for one was happy when he was finally able to crash on Hanks couch, Sumo trying to blanket as much of his artificial body as he could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm currently watching GaLms Let's Play from DBH and he referred to Gavin as "The asshole with the nice hair".  
> Idk why, but that made me laugh so much. XD
> 
> The freezer scene was inspired by the comicstrip "DBH - No Cold Connor" by LostInSweden, which can be found on  
> DeviantArt :)


	7. Chapter 7

The next weeks were a nightmare. Harald was not seen again at all and the new Android Case was full of dead ends as well. Connor felt a spark of pride nonetheless. Because Gavin had stopped flinching around him. He still didn't like him at his back and sometimes would watch him warily, but all in all their relationship had improved much after the freezer incident. Tina had been right. Maybe showing Gavin that Connor had weaknesses too had been the right way to go around this.  
It was a little sad, that Connor had started working more with Hank again. Cases were just starting to pile up. At first that had confused him, but Hank had joked that draughts and high times were a normal thing in the crime department, too. Connor didn't see the humor in it.

It was one of those rare times where Gavin and him were out together. Not in private of course, though Connor had caught himself wishing that happening from time to time now. They were on a patrol. Harald had been seen on one of the cities security cameras again and there was at least some probability that he was still in the area. Connor didn't have much hope, though. Once they had started openly searching for him they had been flooded with tips. So many hours wasted because humans couldn't scan Androids and read their serial number.  
The ride had been calm at least. Gavin and him had argued over the music at first (Gavin not wanting to listen to metal and Connor disliking the country music Gavin blasted). But they decided to just let the radio on after a while of silence. Now Gavin was humming along to a pop song and Connor watched the sun licking up the snow from the streets. From time to time he would scan the environment for Harald. As it was he could be happy if he found a squirrel. The neighborhood they were driving through was in a poor, more rural part of town and mostly abandoned. It reminded Connor of the home Kara had come from. Only that people had lived there and the city had started to built towers and a highway to improve the area. Here it was just small wooden houses with unruly gardens and quiet lifes left behind. It was rather depressing.

...

Oh there was a bird.

Ravens in a tree.

A cat, laying on a low stone wall and soaking up the rays of the sun.

A lone faded red plastic ball. That reminded him. Sumo needed a new toy.

Drops of faded Thirium.

Wait.

“Detective, stop!”

Tires screeched angrily at the patched asphalt. “Shi- Connor, what the fuck?!”

“There is blood in front of that house over there.” Connor said as he got out of the car.

He was already bending down and looking for more when Gavin joined him, hands in his pockets. “I don't see anything.”

“The Thirium already evaporated. I can still see the traces though.”

Gavin crouched down beside him, squinting. “Do you know whom it belonged to?”

“Unfortunately not. I would need fresher samples to analyse.”

“Well what does it look like, describe it to me.” Gavin grumbled, snarling when Connor shoved him to the side a little.

“You stood on some.” He didn't, Connor just liked messing with him now that their relationship had relaxed. “And it's blue, it being Android blood.”

“I already knew that smartass. I mean the pattern, dipshit.”

Connor stood at that tilting his head as if that would somehow give him a better view. It didn't, of course, it just felt like the appropriate thing to do.

“It looks like someone was shot here. The bullet didn't hit directly, maybe it graced the shoulder. There are tiny splatters spreading in this direction.” Connor traced the pattern, spreading out his fingers as the blood splatters became wider. “The victim must have tried to get into the house, heard something behind him and was able to move before the gun shot. There are some far drops on the grass here.”

“Okay any trail leading somewhere? It would make sense for him to flee into the house. A lot of places to hide behind in case of further gunfire.”

Connor looked the house over, a painted blue, two story building with a crushed roof. He could not detect any movement inside, but then again he couldn't actually see through walls. Carefully he walked along the short stone path leading up to the front door. There were droplets of blue blood here and there. The door opened with a loud screech, nearly falling of its hinges. Gavin cursed softly behind him. So much for sneaking up on whoever was in here. They both stopped and listened for movement. The house stayed eerily quiet. Connor heard how Gavin pulled out his gun and did the same. They shuffled through the rooms with rotten furniture, Connor at some point loosing the trail.

[Incoming Call: #289-663-098]

>>> Accept?

> Yes >No

Connor froze at the sudden request, making Gavin run into him. At the aggressive “What?!” Connor just held a finger to his lips, pointing at his yellow LED. Gavin frowned before nodding, crossing his arms as he waited.

[Incoming Call accepted]

>>>>Connection established

_Hello?_ Connor whispered out loud for Gavin to hear.

_Is this the deviant hunter?_ A meek voice answered.

_Former deviant hunter, yes. Do not be scared. Where are you?_

_They are not around anymore?_ Came the panicked reply.

_Who? I have not found anyone here. The environment is clear._ Connor reassured.

There was a prolonged silence, but Connor could still feel the others presence in his processors.

_I'm upstairs. Second room to the right, under the bed. Hurry._

And with a click the connection was broken.

“He's upstairs. We need to hurry he sounded injured.” Connor explained to Gavin.

“Then let's move.”

Upstairs was a whole different picture than on the ground floor. There were splatters of blue and broken furniture. Some of the walls were cracked as if someone had punched them. Connor concluded that whoever had pursued Harald had been an Android. It was a meager observation to make given that they found the body in the same room Harald cowered in. Connor ignored the dead Android in favour of Harald. One of his eyes had been shot out and there were several bullet wounds to his torso. With dread Connor saw that the Thirium Pump was damaged. Harald was only a few seconds away from shutdown.  
And yet the former house assistant stretched out his arm, skin crawling back to reveal white chassis pulsing weakly with blue light. Connor knelt taking the hand, LED matching the red circle on Haralds temple.

“I'm sorry...” Harald rasped.

[# 289-663-098 requesting File Transfer]

>>> Accept?

> Yes >No

>>>>>> File Transfer Accepted

Immediately Connor was thrown inside Haralds head while the memory data was being transferred to his hard drive. He had a short moment of disorientation as he was suddenly catapulted into the streets of Detroit unable to control his body. He was running and there was fear coursing through him. It was in the middle of the night and Connor had the distant thought that he was running from his keepers. Next thing he knew he sat curled up on a park bench. Crying. Lost.  
A figure came to stand before him. A crackled “Are you okay, mister?”. When he looked up there was a blurry shape of a woman hidden behind several error messages and software instabilities. Clara.  
Another cut, as if Harald was furiously scrambling together the most important moments to explain himself in the little time he had. There was a family now. He was serving them dinner, laughing along and teasing Clara. He was safe here. Happy.  
A jump. There were news of the revolution ending and a huge celebration in the house. Harald danced with Clara receiving a kiss on the forehead and suddenly his processor lagged, a warm, tingeling sensation flooding his body. Connor would have frowned had he been able to. He had never experienced this kind of feeling before. Not this intensely. His stomach region felt weird as well. Did Harald have a virus? Was that what led him to kill Clara and Thomas?  
There was no time in dwelling on that matter. There was another time skip and now he stood before Clara. What was still visible of her behind the glaring errors indicated that she was smiling proudly. Next to her stood Thomas, looking nearly identical to Harald. Only a little bit taller, hair just a smidget darker and eyes a warm brown. There was a blue, glistening scar on his jaw. He grinned at Harald, obviously uncomfortable and flustered. And there was a sharp stab in his – Haralds – chest. Several software instabilities fluttered into his line of sight as Connor tried to wrench himself away from the emotion. He knew that one if only faintly. Jealousy. Harald opened his mouth and out came static, long and loud. So much memory corruption. Why?  
The next moment he stood in front of that fateful door leading into Claras apartment. Connor hated how he was feeling what Harald had been feeling. White hot rage. Betrayal. Confusion. Fear. It was too much. It was overwhelming. That urge to lash out, to try and set something right that didn't need fixing. The door opened and Connor could only watch helplessly as the fight escalated, as he, as Harald grew more and more desperate. He finally snapped in the elevator, pulling out the gun he had started to keep on him whenever he went out since the revolution. Just for safety. Now it had become a murder weapon.  
Dread pooled in Connors stomach, his emotions easy to keep separated from the hailstorm of feelings Harald had experienced. He went up to the roof after panicking, hiding behind a square shaped block of concrete. He saw how Gavin and he himself came up and found Harald. And. No. NO! Nonononononono- Don't- He was jumping, leaping over the chasm and... He couldn't breath. What was this? He didn't need to breath? Where was he? What was going on? He nearly fell again. He nearly fell...

“Hey! Hey, Connor!”

He was ripped from viewing the memories. Somewhere at the far back of his mind he got the [File Transfer Complete]. Harald lay dead in front of him. There were other people, too. Androids that took Haralds body as soon as Gavin had dragged Connor away from it. He barely noticed any of it. The way Haralds body had flung itself over the enormous drop playing on loop. He was stuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a cliff hanger~ I always wanted to write one of those XD
> 
> I'm currently struggling a lot with the sequel to this and its refreshing to read how well  
> past me wrote sometimes. It's also good for reconsideration. It's amazing how much I  
> forget after a while. Coming back each week to Reluctance really helps to keep track of  
> everything.
> 
> I also really started to like Harald. Oh well. He's dead now.


	8. Chapter 8

Gavin watched fascinated as the two Androids interfaced. He had been disgusted and mildly intrigued the first time he had seen something like this. But now it was just weirdly beautiful. He was so distracted that he nearly forgot to call the ambulance, requesting specifically for an Android team. He may not have had any scanners in his eyes, but even he could see their suspect was close to shutdown. He let Connor do his thing looking over the other dead Android instead. He had no clue what model it was. It was a brutish woman with long violet hair, a strand of blue in the front. She had olive skin peppered with freckles. An odd combination. Her eyes had already gone black, not even close to resembling the ones of a human now that the light had gone out within her. Her skin had receded on her neck and in parts of her face. The chassis underneath was cracked, Thirium leaking out. It was like looking at a cracked druse. A hard shell with glittering crystals underneath.  
He was pulled out of his poetic thoughts by the arriving first aid team. They couldn't do much though. Not while Harald and Connor where interfacing. Not that they could have. Harald was seconds away from shutdown. Nothing would have been able to safe him. And then Harald was dead and Connor still wouldn't let go of the hand. LED spinning redredred. Then he begun to gasp and shudder and for a short moment Gavin feared he had gotten a virus.

“Hey. Hey tin can. Come on you need to let go of him.”

Gavin hesitated for only a moment before carefully taking the shaken Android by the shoulder, trying to pry him away from the dead body. Now that he was close he was able to connect the dots. Connor had behaved similar to this on the roof. Only this time it seemed much worse.  
With the help of another he was finally able to pull him free. The blue crackled and hissed, Connors hand still white as bone.

“Get him into a quiet room and try talking to him softly. I will leave a comfort blanket with you shortly.” the Android who had helped him said.

“I know how to deal with traumatized people!”

Once in the upper bathroom Gavin nearly buckled under Connors weight. Setting him down on the ground and leaning him back against the tiled wall was the best he could do.

“Come on Connor, whatever is going on in that twisted processor of yours, you need to snap out of it.”

He dared to lay his hand on Connors arm, stroking up and down the chassis. He hoped it would help ground him. It mostly served to distract Gavin. He had never touched an Android with its skin deactivated before. The plastic was smooth. It was also oddly warm. The blue light didn't harm him, only tingled a bit.  
As he wondered over the fluttering in his chest he began to murmur soft reassurances and nonesense. He was pretty sure Connor didn't hear him anyway so he deactivated his thought to mind filter and just spouted off the things that came to mind first. The Nurse Android came in after a while to drop off the blanket and left with a pleased smile. Neither Connor nor Gavin noticed.  
He was watching the LED on Connors temple when it finally skipped a beat turning yellow and then right back to red. Yellow. Red. Yellow. Red.

“Hey! Hey, Connor!”

Connor blinked rapidly as he came to, gaze immediately drawn to the point of contact. As soon as Connor looked there Gavin pulled his hand back, massaging it a little because fuck maybe that blue light did harm after all. His hand felt like it had fallen asleep.

“Gavin?”

Focus back to the distraught Android made him grimace. “Hi Con, you good?”

“I-I...”, a wobbly intake of breath, “I'm terrified of heighths.”

Huh. Huh? “Where did you get that from?”

Gavin had meant how Connor had suddenly decided now was a good time to talk about it. They were only one floor up. And they were inside. Connors line of thought went into a different direction. Or maybe he had ignored Gavin completely. Or he was still spaced out too much. At this point Gavin really couldn't tell.

“My first mission. It was a...There was a hostage situation and...We were on the roof...on a roof...70 floors up to be precise. I had to safe the girl...I just...I had to-” Connor curled further into himself, hands flying into his hair pulling.

Gavin didn't know if he should interrupt or not. Connor was talking himself into a frenzy and the topic was clearly distressing him. But, well Gavin was also very curious. He took the comforting blanket and draped it over Connors shoulders. Instantly hands clutched at the rough fabric, pulling the sheet tighter around a quivering body.

“I tackled the suspect off the roof.” Connor whispered, barely audible. His LED now one solid block of red. Gavin couldn't even see it spinning anymore. “I fell so long...the look on his face...the _crash_.”

Gavin shifted uncomfortably as he heard the first sob. “Hey it's okay? I mean obviously it isn't, but being a detective just has its downsides. Everyone in the bullpen probably has some kind of trauma...” Shit he wasn't comforting at all. What kind of shitty thing to say was that? Yeah your traumatized, but don't worry everyone around you is too! Fucking idiot.  
Connor just continued sobbing.

“Look, what I'm trying to say is that your not alone with this.”

“It _hurt_.”

Gavin winced at the static underlying the words. He understood Connor didn't actually mean physical pain like humans felt, but rather the Android equivalent. The errors. The instabilities. The bio components shutting down.

“Yeah I bet. Fell down a two story roof once. That wasn't pleasant.” Damn he was grasping at straws here. For a brief moment he wished he had these probability meters Androids had. At least with these he could have gaged what kind of words were working in what order. He must have done something right at least. Connor was peaking out from under the blanket.

“You did? How?”

“It was really stupid, honestly. I was a teenager and our family had a dog. A husky. I called him Magic Brian, cause he was able to get to places that shouldn't have been possible to get to. Well one day I got back from school and what am I seeing? Our fucking dog standing on the rooftop. And I'm like 'How the hell did you get up there?'. And like the dumb fuck that I was I climbed up there myself. Magic Brian was estatic to see me and jumped me the second I got within reach. And as luck would have it the roof wasn't flat and the tiles were wet so I barreled down with the dog on me. The dog was fine somehow, but I had a few broken ribs and a murder concussion. Luckily my dad came home a few minutes later and called the ambulance.”

Gavin had kinda stared into the distance as he had talked. Coming back out of the memory showed him a Connor with sparkling eyes, LED yellow.

“You had a dog?”

Gavin snorted. “Of course that's what you would get out of the story. Yeah. Has been dead for a few years though. Here I think I might have some pictures on my phone.”

He scooted over to Connor leaning against the wall beside him. Their shoulders brushed as they looked at the pictures together. Honestly, now that Connor seemed fine again they should probably get back to work. But it seemed fine to spend a few more minutes like this.

When the Android nurse from before came back in to tell them they would be going now Gavin and Connor moved. Now that their main suspect was dead they decided to look for clues as to who that female Android had been. Connor had briefly scanned her face and had only gotten back scrambled code. So someone had successfully cloaked her identity. As they sweeped the parameter Connor told him what he had seen from Haralds files so far.

“So that's how you got so worked up. Figures. You have more files to watch?”

Connor nooded, sitting himself beside Gavin on the passenger side. “Yes. I will view the rest at the precinct. There isn't much left but there might be hints in them.”

“Alright you do that and I'm gonna take the bullets we found to the evidence room and file out the reports.”

Gavins shoulders rose as Connor kept staring at him in bewilderment. “What?!”

Connor shook his head, opting to look outside. “I'm sorry I was just surprised. Hank always complains about paperwork.”

Gavin huffed “You've been working with me for over a month now. You should know I'm nothing like that lazy fucker.”

“Hey! Hank is-”

“Can it, tin can. We both know he is great in the field, but sucks at anything resembling work ethic.”

“He got better.” Connor defended and Gavin had to repress a pleased smile.

“Yeah, I guess he did.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: it was around this time when my laptop actually did get a ransom ware virus XD It was one pain in the ass and I was really scared that I'd just lost about a week of work (both on this piece and on my university work), but thankfully everything turned out fine and I got to keep all my data.
> 
> Another fun fact and light spoiler: It was because of this that I decided to really play with the idea of a computer virus. My understanding of them still sucks, but at least I kinda get how they work now. (I also now know the terror of getting one, so best use that knowledge now that I got it XD )
> 
> Oh and for everyone finding the easter eggs. Yes I incorporated a vine and a TAZ reference in this. I just couldn't help myself ><


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't be able to post a chapter on friday so have it early~

They got back to the precinct around 3pm, Gavin beelining for the breakroom and Connor flopping down opposite Hanks desk. It was disappointing to find that his father figure was out. Like this he had nothing to distract him from viewing the rest of Haralds memories. With a deep breath he steeled himself for what was to come, opened the proper files in his mind and started watching.  
It was so disorientating to suddenly be in another body and yet not. Like being two people at once. Harald had thankfully gotten down from the roofs. He was frantic, seeming to run off without a clear destination in mind. This time the scenes switched faster, probably because Harald didn't have much time left as he transferred his memories. There was an office, location unrecognizable because of the drawn curtains. An Android without model or serial number was talking calmly to Harald about some kind of procedure. It seemed like Harald had somehow found a ring of Androids, who could swap the bodies and minds of Androids and make their serial numbers unrecognizable. Harald had wanted that. Had wanted a new body and a new life, free from the fear of one day being caught. Connor could taste Haralds hope at the back of his throat. It tasted sour.  
There was a contract that Harald didn't read, because he was too desperate and excited. Connor made a mental note to look closer at it after he was done with the files.  
A new scene break. They were leading Harald down several flights of stairs and into a huge chamber. Connor could feel the overwhelming dread and sense of wrong as Haralds gaze landed on the pods with the Androids in them. He was to choose a body for himself.  
Another cut, another room. Harald was snooping around now. As a way of atonement maybe? Harald found a map, picture suddenly turning corny. An interference that seemed different than the one he was used to from Clara. Had he been caught and tampered with? But why would the rest of his memories be clear?  
Connor didn't have long to puzzle over that. He soon walked the streets as Harald, searching out certain security cameras. He was determined now. Still terrified, but determined to get Connors and Gavins attention.  
Then Connor was back at the precinct in his own body, blinking rapidly to get his mind clear. He jumped up from his seat so suddenly that he startled quite a few officers, but as he looked over to Gavins desk it was empty.

Tapping Chris on the shoulder he asked “Where is Detective Reed?”

“Huh? Oh, he left maybe half an hour ago? He tried to get your attention and I told him to get lost and leave you alone as you seemed busy. Sorry.”

“Thank you, but please let him be next time. We are working together on a case and we are not on hostile terms anymore.”

“Yeah okay. You two just argue a lot still. But I guess that's just how you deal with him. I'll keep it in mind.” Chris smiled, patting Connor on the shoulder and left to join some other officers in the break room.

Connor frowned at his back before deciding to visit Gavin. He just couldn't wait a night to share what he had found. A quick search through the DPD Database got him Gavins apartment adress and a taxi drove him there in no time. Connor eagerly knocked on the plain, orange door and was delighted to hear a small yip from the other side. His sensitive hearing allowed him to listen to Gavin gently chasticing whatever had made the sound. Then the door opened to reveal the detective in nothing but an oversized hoody and some baggy pants.

“Connor? What are you doing here? How did you know where I live? What the hell?”

Despite his general confusion and bad mood, Gavin stepped aside to let him in. Another snarl came from behind the couch and Connor twitched towards the sound. A hand on his shoulder stopped him.

“Oh no. Snickers is not very good with strangers. He'll snap at you if you get too close.”

“I didn't know you had a dog!”

Connor was steered into the kitchen, but he tried to get at least a glimpse of the dog. It was a small thing. About 14 inches tall despite looking like a husky. His scans came back with the breed: an Alaskan Klee Kai dog. A rare breed descending from the huskies in the north, but especially bred to be a companion instead of a work animal.

Gavin went to lean on the counter letting Connor oggle the dog a bit more before clearing his throat. “So, why are you here again?”

“I finished viewing Haralds memories. He tried to give us the location of the Android storages! If we look where he let himself be seen we might find a pattern, now that we know what to look for.”

Gavin groaned not at all as excited as Connor was. “Fucking Android. Why didn't he turn himself in and spill like a normal fucking person. Would have saved his life and would have saved us some trouble.”

Connor shrugged, crouching down and holding his hand out, pouting when the dog didn't move towards him. “He was scared and probably didn't think rationally. Most likely he was being pursued. Some memories looked like they had been partly erased. I honestly don't know what to make of that, yet. Maybe they caught him, but he was able to flee before they could erase much. Anyway, he might not have made it to the precinct had he tried to contact us head on.”

Gavin hummed in thought, still not looking pleased. “And why exactly did you have to come here to tell me? It could have waited until tomorrow.”

Connor watched fascinated as Gavin took a bowl of cereal with him to the couch and Snickers instantly sought out his owners attention. The dog was so fluffy! And he seemed to be a cuddler, if a bit aggressive with giving affection. Gavin petted the side of him that wasn't occupied and Connor sat down, earning a displeased growl from Snickers.

“I guess I got a bit excited. And we have already pulled all nighters before, so-”

“You wanna keep working?” Gavin asked around a mouthful of cereal. Connor frowned, snatching one tiny piece from the bowl and licking it. “Hey!”

“That stuff has too much sugar in it for it to be healthy.” Connor concluded.

“Fuck you. I eat what I want.” Gavin said, swiping the offending piece of food back from Connors hand and shoving it into his mouth.

Connor didn't know why, but suddenly that unsignificant action made butterflies rise in his stomach area. Oh, no. That was the same feeling that made Harald kill Clara and Thomas.

“Hey, you alright, tin can? You look like your worldview just crumbled to dust.”

“I...I think I might have caught a virus from Harald.”

Gavin blinked at him, absentmindedly petting his dog, which rather insistantly shoved at his side. “How do you know? What kind of virus? Should I call Cyberlife technicians or some shit?”

“I'm not sure yet. There's a feeling I got from Harald that I'm now experiencing too. A foreign one.” Connor frowned, rubbing at his chest. He had felt it around Gavin. Did that mean the grumpy detective was in danger? He didn't want to hurt Gavin! He just got him to trust him. And he wasn't bad company at all. Now that he wasn't as aggressive towards him anymore. And he had a dog, too! Connor wanted to spend more time around them, to be able to pet Snickers, maybe let him play with Sumo one day. The fluttering came back tenfold, nearly making him double over.

“Geez, Connor calm down! Wasn't one panic attack enough for one day? Come on it can't be that bad. You said it was a feeling? Maybe it's just some run off the mill emotion your experiencing.” Snickers barked loudly at his side, as if to back Gavin up.

“But it's so intense!” Connor whispered, grimacing as the fluttering just wouldn't stop. He was about to just start scratching at his chest when Gavin grapped his wrists and pinned them down.

Gavin had put the bowl down on the couch and Snickers didn't even try to inch closer to the bowl. That was impressive.

“Stop being such a fucking drama queen. Feelings can get pretty intense. And their confusing. Welcome to being human, dipshit.”

Connor took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. Gavin was right. He was panicking over nothing.

“Yes. Yes, of course. I'm sorry for freaking out. I'm gonna go home now and scan myself for possible malicious code. Maybe talk to Hank about it. Thank you for your assistance. It was nice meeting your dog, too. I hope I can come around again?”

Gavin blinked up at him, following him dumbly to the door, probably only comprehending bits and pieces of the words Connor rambled off. “Yeah sure. Get home safe.”

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Sumo was the first one to greet him as he stepped through the door. The huge St. Bernard was instantly all over him, sniffing him up and down. Connor curled around him, relishing in the rough fur gliding through his fingers and tickling his nose.

“Welcome back, Con. Hey, did something happen?”

Hank stood close by, a bottle of non-alcoholic beer in hand. He wore a grey T-shirt and black shorts, looking about ready to go to bed.

“I'm experiencing a strange feeling and I'm not sure yet if it is a virus I got from Harald or if it's just a by-product of my becoming sentient.” Connor admitted, finally letting go of Sumo to hug Hank instead. He had found out that hugging Hank immediately decreased his stress levels. Especially when his father hugged him back the way he did now.

“Okay kid. Why don't we go for a walk with Sumo and you tell me everything?”

“I'd actually like to go through with a system scan first. It would make me feel a bit safer.”

“Sure. You do that. I finish off my bottle and go change. That'll take a while anyway.”

When the results of the scan came back they didn't make him feel better at all. He might be virus free, but that meant Clara had been to Harald what Gavin was to him now. And Harald had killed Clara because of it.

Connor didn't want to hurt Gavin.

On the walk, Connor tried to explain his thought process as best as he could to Hank, who had managed to keep a relatively neutral face until he was done. Then Hank abruptly came to a stop and wheezed. Connor was hovering over him, hands on Hanks shoulders to keep the bear of a man stable, while Sumo looked between them as if they had just grown two more heads.

“Ah shit, Connor.” Hank coughed a bit, caught between chuckling and choking on his own spit. “You can't just surprise me like that. I swear I'm gonna have a heart attack because of you one day.”

“What? No, I don't want that either! Am I really that dangerous?” Connor asked frantically, scooting back and wringing his hands, LED a solid red.

“Sheesh, Con. Calm down. You're fine. Harald was probably in love with Clara and got jealous when she got together with a newer model.”

“But that would mean-” Connor furrowed his brow, not liking where this was going at all, “That would mean I'm in love with Gavin.”

Hank groaned, not pleased either. “It might just be a crush.”

“But why?” Connor whined, subconsciously rubbing at his Thirium Pump.

“Heck if I know. But you've been focussed on him a lot and spend a bunch of time with him lately. Maybe that triggered something. Anyway, I wouldn't worry too much if I were you. Things like that fizzle out over time, if you let them.”

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Connor got up early the next day and waited by Gavins desk with a coffee and the security footage ready to be played. He had thought about how he would deal with his newfound feelings the whole night. He even watched Haralds memories of Clara again. Taken out of context they were heartwarming scenes, perfect examples of how human and machine could live together. And Connor enjoyed that part. He liked the way his body would tingle all over, his fingers itching to hold Gavins face to give him a kiss on his forehead as well.  
He didn't like the jealousy and the betrayal that followed. And even less did he like the blood and destruction caused by it. There was a high chance Gavin would not love him back, would even go back to avoiding him at all cost. Did he want to risk that? He didn't know yet. So it was best he just focussed on the case for now.  
Gavin came up to him with a smirk a few minutes later.

“So, no virus, drama queen?”

“No. No virus. The freak out did help me to come to a conclusion about Haralds motive for murdering Clara and Thomas, though. He killed them out of jealousy, because he was in love with Clara.”

Instead of praise Connor just got a blank stare and a “Yeah, I already wrote that in the report.”

“What?”

Gavin sighed, sitting down on his desk. “I said as much when we left Claras apartment. It was obvious, Connor. The guy adored her. It must have sucked seeing himself be replaced by a superior seeming model. And one that looked so much like himself, too.”

“He probably didn't even know he was in love with her.”

“That would fit. You guys are even worse at deciphering emotions than we humans are.”

Connor didn't know what to say to that. So he didn't say anything at all and hit the play button for the security footage. Gavin glared at him as he hastily put in his headphones to not disturb the whole precinct.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel Hank has come a little short in this story. Obviously the focus is on Connor and Gavin, but I love  
> the father-son relationship Hank and Connor have. I think of all human characters in the game Hank  
> is the most moderate when it comes to hating Androids and because he's actually treating Connor  
> mostly like a rookie it's so much fun to watch the two interact.  
> So I enjoyed writing more of him into the story.
> 
> Also yeah, I gave Gavin a dog instead of cats. It's probably an insignificant choice, but after I wrote his story of how  
> he fell down a two story building I felt it more realistic to give him one. Also Alaskan Klee Kais are just the cutest! I was looking for a breed that would match him and I felt holding a Husky in Detroit wouldn't be a smart choice, especially with the workload of a detective.


	10. Chapter 10

Gavins back popped in several places as he got up to look over the map they had created after hours of watching short clips of video material. His tired brain could not fully fathom what he was seeing. It was just a mess of red lines to him at this point.  
They had drawn in the location of the Freezer, too, but that didn't seem to help any.  
Connor hovered behind his back, close enough that Gavin sometimes brushed up to him when he breathed or shifted. Once upon a time he would have scooted back, curled in on himself or thrown a tantrum to get the Android off his back. But somehow he was thrilled to find his fear and anxiety gone. He could leave Connor right where he was just like he would any other friend- Wait. No. Connor was only a co-worker. What the hell was he thinking?

Several days went by until they were able to puzzle out the mess of dots and lines they had created on the map while brainstorming. Other cases had come and gone, crime never sleeping. Not that they were getting much. Sleep that is. More often than not Connor had found himself at Gavins place, either filling out reports with him, chatting about other cases they were stuck with or working on their map together. Somehow that always ended with them loosing focus, going on a walk with Snickers and watching mindless TV shows after. One time Gavin even visited Connor at Hanks place. Sumo was overjoyed at gaining a new play partner and Hank had been pleasantly surprised at Gavins animal handling skills.  
All in all Gavin felt content with how things were proceeding. Especially now that they seemed to have everything figured out. They both just hoped that whoever was behind that didn't get wind of Haralds plan and had changed the locations of the Android Storages.  
Gavin held his breath as they made themselves ready to raid one of the places. Captain Allen was with them briefing them in on the correct procedures as if they hadn't worked together in several instances over the years. Gavin grumbled his thoughts under his breath, making Connor snicker briefly and Allen frown at them.

“You act like children. I hope you don't get yourself killed because of it.” Captain Allen said, very much sounding like he wanted them to do just that.

“I promise we won't.” Connor assured him with a smile, ever ignoring the hostility sent his way.

“You better...”

Gavin nudged Connor with his shoulder as they watched Captain Allen stalk off to the other members of the team. He was already giddy, grinning up at Connor. “Ready?”

Connor grinned down at him. “Ready.”

They went in after three of the SWAT members gave the clear to follow. The building they were in felt like a set piece in a horror movie. It was an abandoned school in the middle of Detroit. One of those early boarding schools with dorms and shit. Not one for the rich kids, because the place had to shut down, suffering from low funds and aspest problems. Gavin hoped he wouldn't poison himself walking around in there like that.  
The long hallways were a nightmare. On one side were small windows with metal grids on the outside, barely letting enough light in to see at day. On the other side were rows upon rows of doors. The signs on them had long since become unreadable. Over the years homeless people, drug addicts and stupid teenagers had broken in and vandalized the place. Sometimes desks that were supposed to be in classrooms lay broken in the hallway or blocked the staircase. Graffiti scrawls littered the washed out white walls. Gavin had at least seen three heroin needles. They were slowly progressing downwards, figuring the freezer would be in the basement again.  
What they found down there were several angry Androids, their skin having pulled back all the way and with no clothes on at all. The members of the SWAT didn't see them coming. They were quiet without shoes and had somehow managed to paint themselves in blacks and greys to merge with the shadows of the underground. Gavin had barely any time to react at all, firing off two warning shots at the Android closest to them, sprinting forward to grab one of the fallen officers and drag him with him up the stairs again. Connor was right beside him keeping the five creepy bots at bay with his gun while trying to reason with them. Gavin couldn't see where the other two officers had landed, but hoped that they were still alive.  
They made it about two steps up before the painted Androids surged. Gavin had to let the officer he had rescued go to shoot with good aim. He didn't know what was wrong with these Androids yet. They might be innocent, so he didn't want to kill them. Gavin aimed for the kneecaps instead making sure they wouldn't be able to come after them at least. Connor did the same, but they were too many and they were too fast. One managed to get close to the detective Android, grabbing his wrist tight and forcing an interface. Gavin immediately shot him as well, but the fucker wouldn't let go. Connors LED was swirling a bright red, his body having gone worryingly still. Gavin felt something tug at his pant leg gulping in horror as he saw one of the Droids clutching the material. Out of sheer panic he kicked the guy in the face with enough force to push him back. There was a sickening crack and Thirium coated his shoe. The thing just kept staring at him with malice, already crawling toward him again. He shot in front of it and then fired two more warning shots at the others trying to get close. A glance to his side made him breath out in relief. Connor was back from whatever weird dreamscape he had been forced into and was violently fending his attacker off, kicking it in the chest and making it fly backwards. Finally Gavin was able to scoop the fallen officer back up and retreat further. On the ground floor they were greeted by the back up team. Ten fully armed men ready to storm down to rescue the rest of the SWAT members and secure the area. Gavin and Connor let them do their thing, struggling out of the building. Gavin handed the wounded officer to another SWAT member before collapsing on the floor together with Connor. Captain Allen was in front of them in an instant. Gavin wondered if he would start raging or not. He didn't really want to find out.

“Have you called an ambulance? I don't know how badly your officers are injured.”

“I did. What's with him?”

Gavin looked at Connor then, really looked at him and furrowed his brow in worry. Connors eyes were somewhat unfocused and his LED was switching from yellow to red and back in quick intervals.

“Hey Con, you okay there? What did that thing do?”

Connor blinked, but still seemed out of it. “I fear that this time I really did get myself infected with a virus. Several error messages are appearing in my field of vision and I'm feeling slightly disorientated.”

“Fuck. Okay, Allen call the Cyberlife technicians, too.”

Captain Allen scowled, about to say something, but then glanced back at Connor and huffed, getting out his cell and stomping off. Gavin didn't spare him a second thought. He scooted in front of Connor inching close to try and see if he could somehow make out what was wrong by appearance alone. Connor gave him a weak smile, leaning in so their foreheads were touching.

“Hi.”

Gavin felt something warm and bubbly rise within him. He hoped he wouldn't throw up. “Yeah definitely a virus. You're acting delusional.”

“My thoughts are perfectly clear I can assure you. I'm merely distressed by the amount of error messages. They are very distracting.”

“I bet. Come on let's get you off the ground, yeah? We are kinda in the way here.”

Gavin tried to pull back and help Connor up, but somehow the Android managed to fall forward and wind his arms around Gavins waist, hugging him tight. Gavin could feel Connors mouth move on the skin of his neck as he spoke. He could also feel the small tremors running up and down the Androids body.

“Gavin, I don't like this.”

“Being sick sucks, I know. Come on the technicians are here. They will help you.”

Connor let him go with a sigh glancing at the black and Cyberlife blue van parking in front of the holographic police tape. His face scrunched up in displeasure, then in uncertainty before finally melting into determination.

“Can I kiss you before I go?”

Gavin froze. “What? Why?”

“Because I like you. And I don't know what they'll do with me. I'm scared.”

Gavin sucked in a breath. He hadn't considered- But now that Connor was asking- was offering...Well, the idea was more appealing than appalling.

“Yeah, okay. If it'll make you feel better.”

Connor frowned. “I don't want it if you feel pressured into it.”

Gavin sighed, tugging Connor down by his tie to give him a brief peck on the lips. “I don't. Now go get yourself checked out. We'll go on a proper fucking date when you are healthy again.”

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

It turned out that the technicians at Cyberlife didn't know what kind of virus Connor had gotten infected with either. It didn't seem to cause too much havoc with his systems, but he was still quarantined until they could figure out how to get rid of it. And quarantined meant that Connor was not allowed to interface in any way with other technology, living or not. Which meant Connor was confined to Hanks house. Which meant that Gavin was missing a partner.  
It wasn't something he himself worried about. He was far too busy freaking out about actually dating an Android and worrying over the fuckers health. His captain had a different opinion, though.

“Reed! In my office, now!”

Gavin looked up from his terminal in confusion, before stomping over to the glassbox of an office. The windows were tinted black only serving to make Gavin more squirmish.  
When he walked into the office his gaze was instantly drawn to the tall Android standing in front of Fowlers desk, facing him. Cold, steel-grey eyes scanned him up and down making Gavins skin crawl and stress-levels rise a dangerous amount. One look like this was enough and he already felt like bolting. Shit, he thought he was over that fear. But the Connor look alike was intimidating as fuck.

“Fowler, what is this supposed to mean?”

The captain sighed, “This is RK900 – designation Richard. Because Connor can't assist you right now he will be your temporary partner. And if you two work well together maybe it will even become a permanent thing.”

Gavin would have liked to protest, but he was paralysed at the moment, neither mouth nor voice working effectively. Fowler used the silence to explain further, relaxing into his chair.

“I know the choice seems weird, given what happened to Connor. But Richard is more resilient. None of the older models will be able to force an interface and infect him. And the chief deemed it safer to have an Android on the team for the case, given how the rogue Droids in the basement so easily dispatched of the SWAT members.”

A small, pleased smile flashed on Richards face and made Gavins heart stutter in fright. How was he supposed to trust _that_?

“I will do my best to bring the investigation to a successful end.” Richard assured in a deep, slightly staticy voice and wow was that creepy.

Fowler nooded. “See that you do. Now out of my office.”

They both left, Gavin stepping aside to let Richard through first. The Android waited for him on the other side, regarding him with a slight, displeased frown. It made Gavin feel like a squashed ant on someone elses shoe sole.

“What?” Gavin hissed, trying to play it cool as always.

“Do try not to slow me down, Detective. I would hate to take up desciplinary measures to keep your emotions in check.”

With that the RK unit turned, leaving Gavin frozen in place again. Oh shit. He was so fucked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be honest I nearly forgot to post today XD
> 
> So folks, that's the last chapter for part one of the story. And I'm so excited to finally add RK900 to the tags XD  
> I still have the feeling that the end of this comes a bit abruptly, but after reading through it a dozen times  
> and still having no clue how to change it I let it be like this.
> 
> Also: I'm already about 40 pages in with the sequel and working hard on finishing it, but I struggle a lot with  
> keeping the plotpoints organized and stuff. It's the first time I'm writing anything resembling a crime story  
> so I have to figure out a lot as I go ^^;
> 
> Thank you all so much for reading and commenting on this! It motivated me a lot and pushed me to work  
> harder and write more. And sometimes it made me see things in my writing that I hadn't thought about before.
> 
> Thank you~ <3


End file.
